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KISD graduate Jakob Kilian and his BA thesis “Unfolding Space” has been ranked “First Place“ at Kölner Design Preis Toby E. Rodes Award 2018 award ceremony on October 25 at MAKK, Museum of Applied Arts Cologne. A total of 28 graduate works of five Cologne-based design and art schools had been nominated. KISD – Köln International School of Design was represented by more than ten graduates’ project works and could also succeed in being twice in the Top Three. Naja Schulz’ thesis “Geplante Zufälle aus Glas” was ranked third place.

Jakob Kilian’s Bachelor thesis “Unfolding Space” enables people to manually see. A prototype of a glove combined with visual and vibration technology is sending three-dimensional image information, generated by an in-depth camera, to the users’ back of the hands. The location where the vibration is produced thus marks an object’s relative position in space, the vibration’s magnitude indicates its distance. Blind users or people with an impaired vision can, in doing so and in using a new sense of depth, interactively experience their surroundings, can identify barriers, and can continually improve orientating themselves in and moving through unfamiliar terrain.

The jury of Kölner Design Preis stressed: “Jakob Kilian’s ‘Unfolding Space’ is intriguing and captivating in its idea, concept, and implementation. He does not only present with ‘Unfolding Space’ a fully operable prototype, but also illustrates how former high production costs for such devices can be significantly reduced.”

Naja Schulz from KISD was ranked third place for her thesis “Geplante Zufälle aus Glas (Intended Coincidences from Glass)“ dealing with the common and dividing grounds of handicraft and new technologies in the context of tableware production. Schulz in her work used experimental techniques in order to exactly constitute them in the end. In doing so, she developed a unique collection of crystalline decanters, wine- and water glasses.
Ranked second place in the competition was Mick Mahler’s ifs (internationale filmschule köln) graduate live-action-animation-short-movie “Ein kleiner Schritt (A Little Step)“. It combines a real movie set with digital animation techniques and captures a dystopian vision of the future where the end of mankind, as a last resort for survival, has succumbed to virtual reality.

About the Kölner Design Preis

The Kölner Design Preis, this year also labeled the Toby E. Rodes Award, is a joint project by KISD – Köln International School of Design, ecosign Academy, Macromedia University of Applied Sciences, ifs (internationale filmschule köln), and Rheinische Fachhochschule Cologne. This year, 28 project works/final theses were approved for final selection. All 28 nominated works will be exhibited at MAKK from October 26 to November 18. 2018’s award ceremony marked the 11th edition of the Kölner Design Preis – this year for the first time under the auspices and with the support of Neumann-Hug SA willing to keep alive the estate of German author Toby E. Rodes.
In 2018, the jury consisted of Dr. Petra Hesse (director of MAKK Museum Cologne), Nils Holger Moormann (Managing Director, Nils Holger Moormann Ltd.), Claudia Neumann (Managing Director, Neumann-Communication), Stephan Ott (Editor-in-Chief of “form”-magazine), and Prof. Ralph Sommer (Professor for Concept Design, University of Fine Arts of Hamburg).